Tae'lana Thyrilestil
Tae'lana Thyrilestil is a Drow Noble player character in Oustomia. History Chapter 1: When Destiny calls, you must reply. "Tae'lana." "Tae'lana." "Tae'lana..." "Tae'lana!" She could hear it, from the time she was born. She heard the chanting, the voices. They shaped her to greatness. Although her beauty, and magical prowess were virtually known among her kin from such a young age, she disdained their praises, their constant desire to worship her as though she were a gift from the God's. Something told her that the Deities above didn't care about her, or her people. Something told her that for the most part, deities didn't really care at all. Not about the average individual, not of the mushroom farmer of the deep caves who could only Pray occasionally. Not of the Watchman who had a child to go back to, only to be slaughtered in yet another Duergar raid. Tae'lana cared little for her parents; they were machinations already in place, already apart of the system. They raised her well, and for that, she kept them alive, but her ambitions were greater, much greater than growing up in a meager city of backstabbing, conniving Drow and possibly rising above it all to rule them. She was a Drow Noble, born from better stock than the rest of them, it was her duty - her responsibility to be better. For herself, for her people. But most of all, to get this god-forsaken voice out of her head! By the time she was nearing adulthood, Tae'lana had decided - she gathered a group of her most loyal followers. Those she trusted to not backstab her, those who had useful skills to her cause, and those who wanted to break free. Then she did. They left the city, the city who's name would be stricken from their records, from their memories. They wanted no part of it. They went to the surface. They went to light. Chapter 2: Broken "Greatness follows you, Tae'lana." The voice never stopped. Every day, it told her something else - none of it was ever of value, but it always pushed her on. It told her she was meant for greatness; no, that she did ''achieve greatness before the cosmos turned against her and prevented it. The voice told her that the deities above decided that she should not have it, that she did not deserve it. She believed it all. She pushed herself onwards, and traveled the world with her group of followers, and began searching for suitable land. She found it, on the continent of Bricca, a place where her people could call it their own. With some time, and some magical bonuses and knowledge, she connected a small magical route to the city of Rike, which then allowed them to travel to other cities with a few days travel to Rike for their supplies. Tae'lana's knowledge of the world grew in her years within the world, and she began to learn, taking books from the great Osirian libraries, pushing herself through the bright, scorching sun to find more knowledge that she sought. Her eyes learned as she did, adjusting to the constant exposure to the sun so she was no longer so sensitive to it. In time, her travels eventually took her to the other cities; Luperion, Warforge, Magmacar, Haven, even An'doril, much to the scowls of other elves. Eventually, however, when she was making her way through the Serpent's Jungle, northward, through the untamed lands, the voice reached out to her, venom in it's voice. ''"Falador." ''The voice led her to a swath of mostly flat land, untouched by the wilderness - yet, she found traces of corruption, negative energy vaguely permeated the area, leaving certain spots and areas completely devoid of life. A strange phenomenon, for sure, but one she had minimal time and want to investigate. The voice urged her forward, into the well of negative energy, and it imbued her with great power, and corruption. It gave her brief glimpses of knowledge she never knew she had. It gave her ambitions she hadn't experienced, and fused her soul with something - something from another time that she didn't entirely understand. It was as though her soul was fragmented, and now a little piece was back - but it was still fragmented, at least, according to this part of her soul. But her soul wasn't the only one fragmented, no, others were in the same situation, their memories lost and scattered, back to how they were ages past. But Tae'lana's fragment was reaching out to her, pushing her from birth and up, and she was determined to reclaim her lost knowledge. Chapter 3: Empress Her travels took her all around the world, searching for clues to her fragments, and finally, she went to the Eastern edge of the world, on the most eastern point of land before the endless span of ocean overtakes the world. It was there, with the spray of the ocean hitting her, she found her third fragment. This one called itself 'Empress', and it imbued into her the knowledge needed to devour nations, continents, to rule your political opponents. It gave her memories she never had. She was ready. Tae'lana returned to Luperion, and then to Osirian, and then finally - to Haven. She needed to plan, and she needed gold to begin her plans. What better way than to join a war? But who would she fight for? ''Why not both? Chapter 4: Amaria For several months during the war, Tae'lana crafted items and aided both sides of the war. She disguised herself as an orc in service of Londorwin, and made a fair profit off of it, whilst also crafting items for those individuals within Haven, although she outfitted the adventurers of Haven with her better goods. After all, she wanted Londorwin to lose in the end, but still wanted to make a pretty penny while doing so. But during this time, she received a vision - from herself, again. The fragments were rising. There was yet another one, but this one was far away. Tae'lana took a number of her allies, including her personal assassin Resh'Od Argith, as well as a number of powerful minions who might serve her properly. Although she had access to an enormous well of negative energy as a Death Mage to animate the dead, she knew that she couldn't raise them and then bring them to the location of her latest fragment. So she tapped into the past, into her sub-consciousness, and the few memories she'd regained. This particular fragment was in a village of particularly savage orcs, even more savage than those of Londorwin. She traveled through the portals, to Luperion, and then Eastward, into the untamed expanse of Eastern Amaria, where some of the most savage beasts dwell, places even the malevolent Kor'doril Elves refuse to go. Taking her allies and select few undead minions, she entered the savage lands, not to be heard from for over a month. It isn't entirely known what happened there, except to a select few. Tae'lana entered the savage wilderness, killing indiscriminately in search of her Fragment. None were spared. It started with a few; small groups of hunters, or scouts heading out into the wilderness, only to find themselves surrounded by undead. With each group killed, their numbers grew. Eventually these savage orcs and humans found out; at first it was thought that the tribal battles between their peoples was the cause of their deaths, but when hordes of Undead sprung out at both of them, they realized it was all wrong. By then, however, it was too late. The growing Undead Horde had risen up and assaulted both tribal groups, slaughtering them ruthlessly, gathering up hundreds of innocent women, children, and old. They were grouped up together in a building, and a great burst of negative energy was released within, killing all of them and absorbing their souls in a great ritual, empowering her with the energy required to draw forth the fragment from another plane entirely. In her hubris, however, she was betrayed: One of her allies crept up behind her in the midst of the ritual, a former Tribal-turned-Vampire by the name of Kal'rak. He bit into her living flesh, attempting to turn her into a Vampire as well. But during the attack, in the midst of the ritual, the ritual had been finished. But combined with the unique strengths of vampirism being fed into her ritual, she absorbed Kal'rak's life force during it. Instead of becoming a normal Vampire, she was instead, turned into a powerful Dread Lich. Her former ally's life essence and own negative energy fueling his own vampirism had been fed directly into the ritual, her power risen to incredible heights, as one of the most powerful kinds of Lich to ever exist. Indeed, she was one of the few Dread Liches in the world at all. Chapter 5: Caylixia Rising Her work was not yet done. How could it be? Her memories and fragments had been slowly returning to her, but much to the dismay of the spirit that was desperately trying to control her, she underestimated the ambitions of... well, her 'past' self. Tae'lana Thyrilestil would not be controlled; not by herself, nor by anyone else. But this Tae'lana was more ambitious, more confident, more open, and less cautious. The old Tae'lana took many years for her plans in the Surface World to come to fruition, but this Tae'lana knew what she wanted. The Third Orc War 'only helped her plans more. During the 'Battle of Silverwatch, her and her minions created an enormous, twelve mile wide black orb that devoured all sunlight within it, swallowing it and creating a land of eternal darkness. During this same time, she had been experimenting in the creation of new minions, leading her to the secrets of creating Graveknights with expensive and powerful ritual magic, and the creation of Necrocrafts, to create more and more extravagant minions. This brought her to the creation of many of her favored pets, and allies. She had so many plans and ideas, but it was difficult to put them into play, but she did her best. It was time for her to create a new land, one of her own design, where her and her people could be free to continue their work. Caylixia 'and the 'Kingdom of Caylix was born from her mind, and her memories. But this time, it would be different. She controlled vast numbers of lesser undead, mindless beasts that she relegated to her Lieutenants to control them to the best of their ability, to keep command of her armies. But her grand jewels came in the form of the Zodiac Beasts, the Riders of Thyrilestil, The Hand, and finally, the Valkyries. Each group serves it's own purpose. The Zodiac Beasts are designed to as killing machines. Barely intelligent Necrocrafts, embedded with hundreds of corpses, to create disturbing horrors meant to cut down her foes like wheat to the scythe. The Riders of Thyrilestil are her Champions, her Commanders. They command her military might and fight as some of her most powerful warriors. These men - and women - are four Graveknights of utmost prowess, equipped with the best possible armor and gear. The Hand is her network of spies and information. They are spread across the world. They control all information within her lands, and act as harsh inquisitors when the time comes for those who go against her rule. Last, but not least, are the Valkyries; these women are her personal handmaidens on the outside, but they are in reality, her most trusted servants, and many ways, her most powerful. Among their numbers are some of her strongest companions, and cohorts. Chapter 6: To The Stars She'd grown powerful. Too powerful. She could no longer look to the meager realms around her as goals. The world was her goal, but there were more powerful beings in her way before she could enact that, and even then, the risk of going into an all out war was, well, risky. But one known as Scharp Thompson '''had shown her another way of gaining power, of gaining strength. Technology was the answer. She needed technology. The Pale King was defeated and she was sailing to Sheng, to the new world, an entirely new planet. If this planet could be traveled to, what others could be found and taken? What resources could be exploited? But again, she needed.. technology. She needed to learn. She had mastered magic in both divine and arcane forms, and had ascended to a lesser form of Godhood, even able to provide domains and divine magic to her followers. So she learned. She went to Warforge and she bought the rarest, highest priced books on technology. She spoke to the most intelligent individuals, and she learned. She tinkered, she played with her new devices, and she learned as her boat sailed to the Elf Gate that connected '''Shengming de Yaolan '''and '''Oustomia. It was all a matter of time. Upon landing on the new continent, she immediately went to work creating a new empire, a new land. One that was away from the already present and entrenched powers of Oustomia; Sheng would have budding Empires funded by those empires, but they wouldn't have the power base and strength. She would have the resources of her old city, and the funding of a richer nation as well. Of course, she was going to betray them anyways. Tae'lana's children were grown as well, and their training had become when they hit adulthood. Although much of it was done in her personal Demiplane or on the ocean, they were still learning quickly, and they'd no doubt become capable individuals given time. But Tae'lana needed to think; she needed time herself. She still had some time to grow, some power to gain. Tae'lana created her own Council, the Raven Council, composed of multiple Ravenlords, who would represent her when she wasn't around, and something told her that she would rarely be around as the future went on. She needed to explore, to gain more power. She was a Goddess now, and she had an obligation to her people to provide them with power, strength, knowledge. Physical Appearance In life, Tae'lana was easily considered beautiful; long, flowing white hair and her bright, glowing blue eyes that made her stand out from other Drow significantly. Flawless flesh and a curvaceous, yet lithe and athletic form well made for the rigors of physical combat, which was fitting, as she was trained to be well-versed in magic, as well as the aspects of physical combat when the need arose. Outside of her adventuring attire, Tae'lana could easily be considered regal and elegant, often found in rich and expensive noble dress that make her appear even more dominant and in control than one would normally expect. She dressed so that when she entered a room, all eyes would be upon her; just as she liked it. She demanded attention, and she received it. Such was the way she had been raised and taught as a young Drow Noble in the Underdark, although even in her most bare noble attire, she was still equipped with numerous daggers and other minor weapons in her employ. In undeath, however, Tae'lana retains her regal and elegant beauty, as well as that ever dominant demand for attention when she speaks. Her voice commands respect, and as does her appearance, but most commanding of all is her incredibly piercing, commanding red eyes - a dark change from her former bright blue. She is often clad in either a loosely fitting, simple and dark robe, - surprisingly simple, compared to her previous attires - her adventuring attire, which consists of the very bare minimum, as she does not rely on armor for protection, but rather magic and her natural armor. Her shoulderpads are often depicted with skulls, and dotted with raven feathers, and a hood is often drawn over her head, covering her hair and forehead, and darkening the majority of her face, but allowing her now malevolent gaze to look outward upon those she desires to control. Otherwise, her armor is primarily designed for maximum agility and to allow her to move with incredible ease, although it provides no protection to her directly, and is mainly for appearances. Personality Tae'lana is ambitious, and assured of her own abilities. She is confident in her natural leadership skills, and has significant tactical and strategical knowledge. Thanks to her time on the surface, she also become proficient in a number of surface-dwelling techniques and skills, as well as fluency in several languages. While Tae'lana's initial personality was that of curiosity, wanderlust, and a general happiness to be free of the confines of the darkness below, it has since changed to something much darker, and resembling her people's original vision for her. Tae'lana is easily considered racist, but hides it well enough. She rarely lets her dislike of other races be seen, and finds most of them useful in some way, shape or form, and is quick to pick up on the most useful traits of individuals. She tries to maximize the potential of her allies and followers, although she is careful not to let potential enemies know of her own abilities - although 'potential enemies' encompasses mostly everyone. Tae'lana despises those who would believe themselves to have authority over her. This is partly due to her upbringing as one who is meant to bring about extreme wealth and power to her people, and because she values respect over perceived authority. While she does understand they are the rulers of their respective towns and cities, unless she is in those areas, she will not recognize the sovereignty of any Kings or Queens or other self-imposed titles of power. She believes that when power is shown, respect and authority will follow afterwards. She despises those who lead from the back, and believe that leading by example is a far superior choice to that of 'Throne Leadership', as she calls it. Despite her ambitious desires and significant dislike of authority, she assumes absolute authority over her followers, almost to a fault. She cares deeply for those who offer their lives to her and swear fealty to her. She would never willingly allow one of her followers to die needlessly, always for a cause, for a good reason. Although these reasons can sometimes be selfish, she is proud of the fact that her original entourage from the Underdark still remains with her. This is, of course, a fault in many ways as well. She may allow those who she shouldn't trust to get close to her; for this reason, she relies on her trusted Advisors and followers from the Underdark, who hold a much higher place in her society and heart. In addition, if she believes one of her followers serves her exceptionally well, it isn't unusual for her to throw herself directly into danger, with ferocity seen only in Barbarians. Allies & Enemies Goals Recent Events Category:Player Characters Category:PvP Active